Sara: For me, artist residencies are amazing because they roll a bunch of lifelines into one. Residencies have given me time, space, and financial support to make art. They have also given me the opportunity to meet new people (extend my network) and travel to new places, leading to new inspirations.

After I went on a string of residencies, I settled down and got a full time day job. Now I am learning the challenges of balancing a day job with time/energy in the studio. If you’re in a situation like this, and can take the time off work, residencies are a great solution because they really let you focus on your art for a chunk of time without having any other commitments.

Monicat Data thoughts on Artist Residencies: From a data perspective, Monicat Data has the ability to aid artists in organizing compelling dialogues of artistic performance and impact through data. Organizing your story as an artist with grounded community impact/reach data can be the extra push to help supporting community organizations understand your vision, directing you toward your next funding and/or artist residence opportunity.

Aware of (an) artist(s) we should feature in coming months for this series? Contact us here with the subject line 'Artist Lifelines'.

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